‘Price is Right’ Lawsuit Overturned After Model Awarded $8.5 Million

Brandi Cochran, 41, showcased prizes on “Price is Right” from 2002 to 2009. When she tried to return after her maternity leave and was denied, she sued. She was awarded a total $8.5 million in November 2012—but California Judge Kevin Brazile overturned the verdict on Tuesday.

Brazile said, in light of new guidance from the state’s Supreme Court, he should have guided the jurors differently. The key was his emphasis on the weight discrimination had in influencing the show’s decision not to rehire the model.

“Of central importance to the case was the weight given to discriminatory intent and whether that intent need only be of a mere motivating factor or a substantial factor. Given this central dispute, the failure to give the proper instruction regarding substantial factor cannot be considered harmless, and a new trial must be granted,” Brazile wrote in the ruling, according to the Hollywood Reporter.“Holland’s Next Top Model” Fired for Big Hips

On March 7, “Holland’s Next Top Model” winner Ananda Marchildon, won a lawsuit against Elite Model Management company after being fired for gaining about an inch on her hips.

Susan Scafidi, Law Professor at Fordham University in New York told CBS in an earlier report on the lawsuit: “Her hips went from 35.5 inches to … just over 36 inches, on a 6-foot woman.”

Elite’s attorney said the company fired Marchildon because she could was no longer suited to modeling work.

“Couture clothing is made in one size only: petite. This is not something agencies can change,” he said, according to the Inquisitr.

The company had also withheld $85,000 of the $99,000 she was due for winning the “Holland’s Next Top Model” contest.

Marchildon was awarded $85,000 in last week’s ruling, according to the Huffington Post.